No more CDF cash for MPs

Tendai Biti makes a provision in the 2013 National Budget.

“The current Parliament will be dissolved during the first quarter of 2013 and this means if Treasury sets aside an allocation for 2013 disbursements, they can only be done once there is a new Parliament.”

President Mugabe insists that harmonised elections will be held in March next year.

Secretary for Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Mrs Virginia Mabhiza said: “For accountability purposes, we would rather advise to wait for the elections and start on a fresh slate. Some people may get away with murder if they are to receive the CDF money now and lose the next elections.”

Apart from the pending elections, the Government is still auditing the use of funds that were released to legislators last year.
Four MPs, three from MDC-T and one from Zanu-PF, were arrested early this year for allegedly diverting for personal use part of their CDF allocations.

Efforts to prosecute them stalled after it emerged there was no law outlining possible penalties for those who abused the fund.
This prompted the Government to formulate a Bill, with a provision that those who abuse the funds face a prison term of up to five years.
Mrs Mabhiza said they had finished crafting the Bill to allow for proper administration of CDF.
“We have been doing that on behalf of Treasury and we have forwarded the Bill to them for further input,” she said.

“We are waiting for their response because it cannot sail without their approval.”
Legislators from across the political divide said yesterday that they deserved the CDF allocations because they were “the legitimate custodians of the funds”.
They said there was sufficient time for them to administer the funds if they were provided in the next budget.
Zanu-PF chief whip Cde Joram Gumbo said disbursement of CDF should not wait for elections.

“The money should not be deposited in personal accounts but should go to a constituency account that must be properly accounted for by financial rules put in place,” he said.

Cde Gumbo said the money was still prone to abuse even after elections if Government failed to come up with rules and regulations to handle it.
“Does it mean that all the ministries are not going to get their allocations because it is not certain that the current ministers will return to their respective ministries after elections?” said Cde Gumbo.

“I do not think that is a serious move because it is retrogressive.”
MDC-T chief whip Mr Innocent Gonese said constituencies should not be deprived of their money because of the tenure of MPs.

“The beneficiaries of CDF are the people in the constituencies,” he said.
“We must not punish them because of that issue.
“As a matter of principle, what should be done is to disburse the money to the MPs and put in place a mechanism to account for the money if one loses the elections.

“I think there is still enough time for the MPs to identify areas that need development in their constituencies and the money should be disbursed to them.”
Mr Gonese said a provision was made in the last budget to disburse the CDF funds to the sitting MPs in the 2013 budget if funds permitted.